In the large, dark room with its rows of benches and desks the white
cloth used for the magic lantern was dimly visible, and there were
sounds of suppressed laughter. At the window, through which could be
seen the dark green boughs of trees in twilight, stood Lialia and
Dubova. They gleefully greeted Yourii.
"I am so glad that you have come!" said Lialia.
Dubova shook him vigorously by the hand.
"Why don't you begin?" asked Yourii, as he furtively glanced round,
hoping to see Sina.
"So Sinaida Pavlovna doesn't attend these lectures?" he observed with
evident disappointment.
At that moment a lucifer-match flashed close to the lecturer's desk on
the platform, illuminating Sina's features. The light shone upon her
pretty fresh face; she was smiling gaily.
"Don't I attend these lectures?" she exclaimed, as, bending down to
Yourii, she held out her hand. He gladly grasped it without speaking,
and leaning lightly on him she sprang from the platform. He felt her
sweet, wholesome breath close to his face.
"It is time to begin," said Schafroff, who came in from the adjoining
room.
The school attendant with heavy tread walked round the room, lighting
one by one the large lamps which soon shed a bright light. Schafroff
opened the door leading to the passage, and said in a loud voice: "This
way, please!"
Shyly at first, and then in noisy haste, the people entered the
lecture-room. Yourii scrutinized them closely; his keen interest as a
propagandist was roused. There Were old folk, young men, and children.
No one sat in the front row; but, later on, it was filled by several
ladies whom Yourii did not know; by the fat school-inspector; and by
masters and mistresses of the elementary school for boys and girls. The
rest of the room was full of men in caftans and long coats, soldiers,
peasants, women, and a great many children in coloured shirts and
frocks.
Yourii sat beside Sina at a desk and listened while Schafroff read,
calmly, but badly, a paper on universal suffrage. He had a hard,
monotonous voice and everything he read sounded like a column of
statistics. Yet everybody listened attentively with the exception of
the intellectual people in the front row, who soon grew restless and
began whispering to each other. This annoyed Yourii, and he felt sorry
that Schafroff should read so badly. The latter was obviously tired, so
Yourii said to Sina: "Suppose I finish reading it for him? What do you say?"
Sina shot a kindly glance at him from beneath her drooping eye-lashes.